The National Cherry Blossom Festival is held every spring in Washington, D.C. It is a celebration of the city's blooming cherry trees. The festival also celebrates Japanese culture. The cherry trees were originally a gift from Japan. In March of 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo, Japan, gave thousands of cherry trees to the city. He wanted to promote a good relationship between Japan and the United States. The yearly festival honors the friendship between the countries.

Fun Fact

Tornadoes are storms with very strong winds. A tornado looks like a dark cloud that stretches from the ground to the sky. It is a cone-shaped vertical column: wide at the top and thin at the bottom. Tornado winds can move at speeds between 40 and 300 miles per hour. Tornadoes can be very destructive. Some tornadoes pull trees out of the ground!

Language

What does the bold word mean in each sentence?

1. I want to become a marine biologist to study seals and other ocean animals.

2. In 1922, the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was unsealed.